BYU-Utah Holy War close to adding two more future games

Thanks to Utah’s move to the Pac-12 and BYU’s move to football independence, 2013 will mark the end of 68 straight Holy War games between the in-state schools..

Two future games in the rivalry, though, have previously been scheduled. Now, you can add another pair as well.

Following up on BYU athletic director Tom Holmoe‘s comments last month that “I don’t think there’s a question it will happen,” his counterpart at Utah, Chris Hill, confirmed in a YouTube clip that the two in-state schools are close to an agreement on a future pair of games. The first game would be played in early September of 2017, while the 2018 contest will likely be the regular-season finale for both programs.

There was no word on which game will be played in Provo and which one in Salt Lake City, although the fact that the previously scheduled game in 2016 is a home one for the Utes would suggest the 2017 game would be played on the Cougars’ home turf.

“I can again assure you we are putting things together. We’ll get a final approval [from the Pac-12] in early August and then we can make sure we make an announcement [at that time], if not sooner,” Hill said in the video.

The 2013 game will mark the 89th meeting of the two schools in the last 92 years, with the only break coming from 1943-45 during World War II. All told, the BYU-Utah rivalry has been played 94 times, with Utah holding a 56–34–4 lead in the series.

We Utes love, absolutely LOVE the Holy War games between Utah and BYU. We hold a little edge historically but that is not important. The important thing is that we can look forward to this continuing. Friends plan for this game a year or two ahead of time!

This is what they should have done. I am glad they are doing it. Now we can rest a little easier. Now just to get some better players for us, which I believe has happened.

bertenheim says:Jul 10, 2013 10:09 AM

This is a great rivalry, and should be played annually on Thanksgiving weekend.